DOMESTIC India plans deep cut in thermal coal imports in coming years
He said increasing local coal production would help to improve the economies of states in central India, where most coal mines are located.
India plans to significantly reduce its thermal coal imports in “the next few years” to save foreign exchange and create jobs through the development of existing and new coal blocks, a senior official in the federal coal ministry said.
Domestic coal demand may be subdued in Q2 on lower demand: Report
Coal is among the top five commodities imported by India, the world’s largest consumer, importer and producer of the fuel after China. India spent 1.58 trillion rupees ($21.28 billion) on importing 247 million tonnes of coal, including 197 million tonnes of thermal grade, in the fiscal year to March 2020, M. Nagaraju, a joint secretary in the coal ministry, told a seminar. “As per our assessment, we can actually substitute between 110-120 million tonnes of coal. We will not be able to do this year, but certainly we will do in the next few years,” Nagaraju said, without giving more detail on the timeframe.
22 | CCAI Monthly Newsletter August 2020
Demand for domestic coal is likely to be subdued in the second quarter of the current financial year, due to lower demand from end-user industries amid the COVID-19 pandemic along with high inventory at power stations, according to a report by India Ratings. The rating agency said domestic coal production remained subdued for the third consecutive month in June 2020 year-on-year as well as month-on-month due to low power demand and higher inventory at power stations. Thus, the coal offtake reduced in June 2020 year-on-year but improved month-on-month with the gradual relaxation in lockdown norms,
